Welcome to Dans on Fandoms. I’m Dan.
Ever since I was a youngling, Star Wars has always had the ability to leave me in awe,
and Star Wars shows are no different. In today’s video, I’m going to delve into
my top 10 emotional and WTF moments from Star Wars shows.
Those moments that leave you floored, mouth to the floor, teary eyed, or yelling at the
screen, “oh my god, oh my god, oh my god...” In case you haven’t watched Star Wars Rebels,
The Clone Wars, or The Mandalorian, spoilers are ahead, so turn back now.
With that said, let’s dive into my top 10 emotional and WTF moments from Star Wars shows,
starting with
Number 10-Moff Gideon Appearing with the Darksaber in the season 1 finale of The Mandalorian
Prior to the moment when Moff Gideon erupts out of the downed TIE Fighter with the Darksaber,
I was SO satisfied with how season 1 of The Mandalorian seemed to have wrapped up...and
then the god damn Darksaber is being used to cut a hole in the side of the TIE.
Dani and I were watching that episode with her mom, both yelling at the TV, while her
mom had no clue why we were freaking out. The excitement that we, and other Rebels and
Clone Wars fans, felt in that moment was something else.
I wasn’t expecting to see Moff Gideon in possession of the Darksaber, but I’m here
for it, and what a freaking moment it was watching this scene for the first time.
Still makes me smile each time I’ve watched the episode since.
Aside from how cool this moment was, it sets up the possibility of The Mandalorian bringing
Bo-Katan Kryze into the series, as she was the last person in possession of the Darksaber
prior to Moff Gideon, which we saw in season 4 of Star Wars Rebels.
And its inclusion into The Mandalorian will most likely result in the show shedding light
into what happened during the Night of a Thousand Tears, which Moff Gideon Mentioned when Speaking
to Din Djarin, which many fans have theorized is when he might’ve obtained the Darksaber.
It was a truly an awesome, exciting, and WTF moment for sure.
Next up we have
Number 9-Darth Sidious' Duel with Darth Maul and Savage Opress in the Clone Wars Season
5 Episode The Lawless This entire arc is really incredible, and
it's one of my favorite arcs from The Clone Wars.
Leading up to this moment, Maul has orchestrated all this chaos and mayhem on the planet of
Mandalore, installed a puppet ruler, solely to draw Obi-Wan to the planet so that he can
exact his revenge against the Jedi Knight. From across the galaxy, Darth Sidious can
sense a growing dark side presence and threat on Mandalore and disembarks for the planet.
Once he arrives on Mandalore and appears before Maul, the Dark Lord of the Sith informs Maul
that he’s become a rival and their duel begins.
Their duel is so much fun to watch, because we’ve only seen Sidious duel in this episode,
the clone wars season 6 episode Sacrifice, and in Revenge of the Sith of course.
To see Sidious’ power against the two other dark siders, as well as the fact that he’s
laughing throughout most of it, just hammers home the power and absolute terror that lurks
within the Sith Lord. The duel culminates with Sidious killing Savage
Opress, and with the Sith Lord torturing Maul before he will eventually take him to Stygeon
Prime and imprison him in the Spire. Next on our list
At number 8, Maul Killing Duchess Satine Kryze in the same Clone Wars episode-The Lawless.
Prior to Darth Sidious’ duel with the Dathomirian Zabrak brothers, Obi-Wan arrives on Mandalore,
helped free an imprisoned Satine, appears to be able to escape off world, until Maul
and Savage Opress arrive and capture both. We then cut to all of them in the throne room
in Sundari and Maul explains to Obi-Wan that he's long thought of his vengeance against
the Jedi Knight. Obi-Wan does his best to stay as level headed
as possible, but his love for Satine is testing his abilities to not let his emotions affect
him. And right before we think Maul is going to
attempt to kill Obi-Wan, he ignites the Darksaber and kills Satine.
I was not expecting that to happen, and was completely stunned by her death.
Satine’s dying words are to tell Obi-Wan that she’s loved him always.
Poor Obi-Wan. His master, Qui-Gon Jinn, and love were both killed by Maul, he witnessed
the fall of the Jedi Order and the Republic, and had to duel and thought he killed his
former apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, after he became Darth Vader.
Obi-Wan just can’t catch a break, and this scene really hits home how much sadness has
followed the Jedi master throughout his life. Next up we got
Number 7-Ahsoka Leaving the Jedi Order in the Clone Wars season 5 finale-The Wrong Jedi
When I first started watching The Clone Wars, I went into the series hoping to see and learn
more about Jedi such as Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Mace Windu, and the
myriad of other Jedi that we were introduced to in the prequels but didn’t get to spend
a ton of time with during the films. As I continued to watch the series, however,
Anakin’s young Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, grew on me more and more and slowly became a beloved
character for me. By the time season 5 came around, she was
a character that seemed as integral to the series as Anakin or Obi-Wan and I hadn’t
envisioned a scenario where Ahsoka would leave the Jedi Order.
And then the final arc in season 5 comes and Ahsoka is on the run from the Jedi and the
Republic, wanted for the bombing of the Jedi temple on Coruscant and the murder of Letta
Turmond. As the arc moves forward, the audience of
course knows that Ahsoka is innocent, but my thought was the arc would end with Ahsoka
being exonerated of the charges levied against her and she’d be reinstated back into the
Jedi Order. The true perpetrator of the crime is eventually
discovered to be the Jedi Padawan Barriss Offee, resulting in Anakin and the Jedi High
Council apologizing to the young Jedi and offering to not only reinstate Ahsoka back
into the Jedi Order, but to knight her as a Jedi Knight, with this turmoil essentially
acting as her Jedi Trials leading to her knighthood. In my head, I thought, “Ok, this is proceeding
just as I thought it would. Ahsoka will accept, she’ll return to the Jedi Order as a newly
anointed Jedi Knight, and all will be ok until of course Order 66 happens and we’ll have
to find out what became of Ahsoka.” To my shock and utter dismay, Ahsoka declined
Anakin and the Jedi Council’s offer. And then Anakin follows behind Ahsoka as she’s
walking out of the Jedi Temple, pleading with Ahsoka to stop and reconsider her decision,
telling Ahsoka that he understands her desire to walk away from the Jedi Order.
Ahsoka’s response of “I know,” coupled with the look of bewildered realization on
Anakin’s face that Ahsoka knew about him and Padme was just completely heartbreaking.
This moment will always make me feel emotional whenever I watch it.
There’s a sense of sadness that I feel knowing that Ahsoka has just left the Jedi Order,
which serves as another reason for Anakin’s eventual fall to the dark side.
However, there’s also a sense of relief and slight joy knowing that she’s left the
order, because that decision led to her surviving Order 66.
Had she not left the Order, she wouldn’t have met the Martez sister, or wound up on
Oba Diah with them, nor would she have ran into Bo-Katan Kryze, which eventually led
her to Mandalore, and so on and so on. It’s a very bittersweet moment in the series,
emphasis on the bitter, but there’s at least a sliver of joy that can be gleaned from her
decision to leave the Order knowing that it helped her survive Order 66 and the Great
Jedi Purge.
Continuing on at number 6-Kanan Jarrus’ death in the Star Wars Rebels season 4 episode
Jedi Night I love Star Wars Rebels and pretty much everything
about that show. But I especially love Kanan Jarrus, his relationships
with the various members of the Ghost crew, as well as his growth over the show’s four
seasons. Thus, when I witnessed the scene that depicted
his demise for the first time, I was absolutely gut wrenched by it.
When I began the series, I, and many fans, assumed that Kanan, and possibly Ezra, would
have to die at some point. But, boy, was I not ready to see him go. Not
even close. I remember watching the season 4 episode,
Jedi Night for the first time, and realizing very quickly that something was up; the music
that plays at the beginning of the episode definitely seemed foreboding, the focus that
was being put on Kanan, and his interactions with the characters in the early part of the
episode made me nervous as hell that something bad was looming.
A part of me knew his death was imminent, while another part of me hoped that I would
be wrong. As the episode progressed, Kanan successfully
rescued Hera, the two awaited a pick up from Ezra and Sabine, Hera finally professed her
love for the Jedi Knight, and the two lovers embraced each other in a kiss.
At that moment, I felt a pit in my stomach, because I knew Kanan’s fate was essentially
sealed. Sure enough, the malicious Imperial Governor,
Arihnda Pryce, ordered the AT-AT pilot to fire upon and blow up the fuel pod that Hera
and Kanan were standing atop, resulting in Kanan’s death and for all the feels to flood
my emotions like a dam cracking open. Every time I’ve watched the episode since,
Kanan’s death never fails to make me misty eyed and emotional as hell.
Gets me every damn time. It’s truly a testament to the stellar writing,
story crafting, and character development by the show’s creators.
If you’re a fan of Star Wars Rebels and don’t get choked up by Kanan’s death,
I tip my cap to you.
Moving into the top half of our list, at number 5-Baby Yoda's introduction in Chapter 1 of
The Mandalorian First, I want to give a ton of credit to everyone
involved with making the Mandalorian for keeping Baby Yoda’s appearance a secret.
The fact that they were able to do that is pretty great, and I’m glad it was kept a
secret because what a moment it was when that cute little bastard appeared before our eyes.
Yoda has been a favorite character of mine since I was a little kid, so getting to see
a 50 year old baby version from Yoda’s species was SO remarkable and special for me.
When those big ears and eyes were shown for the first time, my mouth was seriously agape.
Dani and I were stunned, shocked, and elated by what we had just experienced, and watching
that scene for the first time, and the emotions that swelled afterwards, is an experience
I’ll remember quite vividly for years to come.
Baby Yoda has not only ensnared the hearts of Star Wars fans, but of people around the
world who hadn’t or still haven’t seen The Mandalorian, as Baby Yoda memes and fanfare
quickly swept the internet. Aside from Baby Yoda’s introduction, the
action scene leading up to Baby Yoda’s introduction is baller as hell, and the levity that is
injected into the sequence from IG-11 is just perfect.
I had complete faith in Jon Favreau and Co. and their ability to create a stellar show,
but I don’t think anyone was fully expecting The Mandalorian to be as amazing as it was,
nor to come out swinging for the fences with that first episode.
And, boy, did they deliver.
At number 4, we got Ahsoka's Duel with Darth Vader in the Star Wars Rebels season 2 episode
Twilight of the Apprentice Part 2 This is still one of the most emotionally
laden moments in all of Star Wars for me. Every time I watch this episode and this moment,
I’m left floored and in awe. Aside from the fact that the duel itself is
just super awesome, the emotional impact of Ahsoka finally coming face to face with what
has become of Anakin-her former Jedi master and mentor-feels so damn heavy.
Watching Darth Vader attempt to lure Ahsoka to the dark side, for her to of course decline
his offer, and to witness their discourse back and forth had me reeling.
And when Darth Vader tells Ahsoka, “Revenge is not the Jedi way,” and she responds with
“I’m no Jedi,” and then ignites her lightsabers, and holy crap, man, here we go.
The two then begin their duel, as this angelic chanting plays in the background.
As the two continue their duel throughout the Sith Temple, what a duel it is.
In one moment Vader momentarily gets the upper hand over Ahsoka and it appears as if Ahsoka
is done for, but then she’s able to reemerge and slash the Sith Lord in the face, allowing
for one of his eyes to become visible, where we can see the red and yellow hue that engulfs
someone surging with dark side energy. Darth Vader then calls out Ahsoka’s name,
and we can hear the voice of Anakin Skywalker, which never fails to just gut punch me.
Ahsoka tells Darth Vader she “won’t leave him, not this time,“ only for Vader to respond
to her and say “then you will die,” before they again engage one another in battle.
Which, ugggh The moment where Vader hesitates and thinks
about how he’ll react to Ahsoka’s comment feels so heavy, when you consider, “is he
thinking that he’s too far gone to return to the light side? Is he thinking about how
much he’s lost by following Darth Sidious? We know Ahsoka survived their encounter, but
still. The emotional weight of that scene is so damn palpable.
This moment never fails to make the hairs on my neck stand. I get goosebumps every time
I watch it. It’s an absolutely spectacular moment.
And now the top 3.
At number 3, Ahsoka’s duel with Maul in the Clone Wars season 7 episode Phantom Apprentice
While Anakin and Obi-Wan’s duel in Revenge of the Sith is probably my favorite duel in
Star Wars, this is an EXTREMELY close second. Everything about this duel is incredible.
From the events leading up to their duel, the fight that’s transpiring throughout
Sundari, it’s awesome. The conversation between Ahsoka and Maul where
Maul explains to her that he’s orchestrated everything happening on Mandalore merely to
lure Anakin Skywalker to the planet, as a force vision enabled him to see that Anakin
would soon become Darth Sidious’ next apprentice, is also just great.
I love seeing Ahsoka’s face as Maul is informing her that Darth Sidious is setting in motion
the wheels that will topple the Jedi Order and the Republic, and that no one will be
able to stop it from happening...other than possibly Maul and Ahsoka!
And how, for a brief moment, it appears as if Ahsoka would team up with Maul.
So, so good, and I was all about that team up!
Even though I knew it wouldn’t happen, I would’ve loved to have seen Maul and Ahsoka
teaming up a la The Hound and Arya from Game of Thrones.
Not to mention the foreboding music that perfectly sets the tone of anxiety that permeates throughout
pretty much the entirety of The Siege of Mandalore. The music and noise of the battle outside
as Maul explains to Ahsoka that the Republic and Jedi will fall was absolutely enthralling.
And once their duel begins, holy crap is the choreography incredible.
Actor Ray Park, who’s played the live action version of Maul in The Phantom Menace and
Solo, was brought in by LucasFilm to do the motion capture for Maul's fight choreography,
and stunt woman, Lauren Mary Kim did the motion capture for Ahsoka.
Their fighting looked SO realistic and using Ray Park and Lauren Mary Kim to do motion
capture for this duel was an absolute slam dunk by LucasFilm.
Everything about their duel is just perfect. And once Maul is captured, we then come to
Number 2-Ahsoka and Order 66 in The Clone Wars season 7 episodes Shattered and Victory
and Death One of the best aspects of the entirety of
The Siege of Mandalore arc is the music composition created by composer Kevin Kiner, and I think
the moments leading up to Order 66 are some of the absolute best use of music in the entire
Clone Wars series. The music that plays as Ahsoka prepares to
leave Mandalore, to her arrival on the Republic Star Destroyer, to the execution of Order
66 is so spectacularly perfect at setting the mood of what's about to transpire.
The music creates and undertone that's eerie, unsettling, and off putting, causing me to
feel anxious during the entirety of the time leading up to Order 66.
Additionally, we get the conversation between Ahsoka and Rex that is just heartbreaking.
Ahsoka tells Rex she's known nothing but living her life as a soldier, and Rex tells her that
it's the same for the Clone troopers, allowing the two to continue to bond and solidify a
friendship that's developed over the years. When Ahsoka tells Rex "the Republic couldn't
have asked for better soldiers or I a better friend," my heart sank in my chest.
And then just like that, Rex is pulled away for a briefing and both Ahsoka and Maul can
sense what has transpired between Anakin, Mace, and Darth Sidious, resulting in the
rise of the Sith and the birth of Darth Vader. Then Rex and the Clones receive the official
order from Darth Sidious to execute Order 66.
Seeing Rex tremble and fight against what the inhibitor chip in his brain is forcing
him to do, along with the tear that streams down his face is just utterly gut wrenching.
Each time I've watched the episode Shattered, I can't help but feel a pit in my stomach.
Really, anytime I've witnessed Order 66 depicted in various Star Wars content it never fails
to leave me heartbroken. Knowing that the Jedi Order, the heroes of
the Republic, have nearly been wiped out and destroyed always makes me feel utterly crestfallen.
After Ahsoka is able to escape, we see her learn about the inhibitor chips and their
purpose, Maul making his way through the Star Destroyer and killing Clones, and then Rex
teaming up with Ahsoka after his inhibitor chip has been removed.
To make matters worse, once Ahsoka and Rex prepare to make their escape and Ahsoka states
that she won't kill any of the Clones, Rex emphatically tells Ahsoka that the Clones
will go down with the Star Destroyer, taking him and Ahsoka down with them.
And then Ahsoka takes Rex's helmet off and we see our boy, Rex, crying.
Just all the feels, guys, all the feels. Which then brings us to the top of our list
At number 1, The Ending of The Clone Wars in the series finale Victory and Death
It’s hard to describe the emotions that I felt when I witnessed the final 4 minutes
of the Clone Wars series finale. I felt dejected and morose, astonishment,
and a sense of gratitude by the fact that one of my favorite shows ended in such a spectacularly
well done manner. After the Star Destroyer has crash landed
on the unidentified moon, we see the aftermath and wreckage from the crash.
The music that plays throughout this scene is so ominous and heart wrenching, and honestly
feels more intense considering there’s no dialogue spoken at all.
The music that played as we see Ahsoka looking upon the Graves is just bone chillingly beautiful.
That music just breaks me down. Witnessing Rex and Ahsoka looking upon the
graves they’ve just dug for all of the fallen clones, knowing that darkness and the oppression
of the Sith has begun to sweep across the galaxy, and that Ahsoka, Rex, Anakin, and
the surviving Jedi’s lives have changed forever is so grueling to think about in that
moment. Everything has come crashing down, literally
and figuratively. The Jedi Order and Republic are destroyed,
Rex and Ahsoka’s lives are destroyed, Anakin has turned into a monster, and many of their
friends and people they held near and dear to their hearts are now dead.
Watching Ahsoka look at those graves, while that music played, only to then leave her
lightsaber behind, and for her and Rex to escape into a life of hiding felt like a weight
compressing my chest. To hammer it home, we then see the Dark Lord
of the Sith, Darth Vader, visit the site of the Clones’ graves, after some time has
passed, finding Ahsoka’s lightsaber, as Morai flies overhead
Watching Vader examines the lightsaber and catches a glimpse of the familiar convor,
and you can ever-so-slightly see Anakin’s eyes behind those red lenses...No lie, the
waterworks turn on every time I watch this scene. I honestly can't help it
The 4 episodes that compromise the Siege of Mandalore arc of the Clone Wars are some of
the absolute best storytelling in all of Star Wars, bar none.
The emotional gravity that is felt during this story arc is completely enveloping.
I’m so thankful that we were able to get one final season of The Clone Wars, because
those final 4 episodes are just utterly spectacular in every way.
Dave Filoni and everyone involved should win all the awards for that season.
There you have it. Those are my top 10 emotional and WTF moments from Star Wars shows.
As someone that originally slept on The Clone Wars and Rebels for a time, don’t sleep
on any Star Wars show. They’re all great in their own, unique ways.
But what do you guys think about some of my favorite Star Wars show moments?
And what are some of your favorite moments that I didn’t mention?
Let us know down in the comments. Want more star wars content, check out some
of our other videos. Please like and subscribe and stay nerdy.